1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to motor vehicle anti skid devices and, more specifically, to an apparatus attached to the undercarriage of a motor vehicle and activated by a user within the motor vehicle to extend until at least a portion thereof engages an icy surface whereby the apparatus will provide a resistance to lateral movement by the motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices which modify the existing systems of steering, acceleration and especially braking, such as the anti locking braking system, for attempting to avoid the loss of control of a motor vehicle on wet and icy surfaces exist. These systems do not have the sole purpose of engaging upon entering hazardous icy portions of a roadway to resist lateral forces acting on a vehicle when on the icy surface which would normally cause the vehicle to skid and possibly spin.
A conventional motor vehicle 10 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 without an anti ice skidding apparatus as disclosed by the present invention. This vehicle 10 is traveling on a roadway 12 and is approaching a patch of ice 14. As can be seen from FIG. 2, when the motor vehicle 10 reaches and begins to travel over the patch of ice 14, the tires 16 lose a great deal of traction. While on this patch of ice, lateral forces as indicated by the dashed arrows labeled with the numeral 18 act thereon causing the vehicle 10 to skid and slide. The lateral forces 18 arc due to the limited amount of traction and cause the motor vehicle 10 to slide as indicated by the dashed outline of the motor vehicle indicated by the numeral 20. When a motor vehicle 10 is subject to and unable to resist these lateral forces the motor vehicle may slide off the roadway 12 and into objects such as trees 22 on the side of the roadway 12, slide into another motor vehicle sharing the roadway 12 or even spin out. Any of these situations may cause painful and possibly critical injuries to the occupants of the vehicle 12.
It is thus desirable to provide a device which may be attached to an undercarriage of a motor vehicle and is selectively deployed by the operator of the motor vehicle to provide a resistance to lateral movement of the vehicle. It is further desirable to provide a device which is able to control the direction of a motor vehicle while on an icy surface. It is still further desirable to provide a device which will not impede the momentum of the motor vehicle while resisting the lateral forces encountered while traveling on an icy surface. It is even further desirable to provide an anti ice skidding apparatus which is able to provide a breaking force for aiding the motor vehicle in braking on an icy surface.